smaller paychecks. >> my teenaged son is the biggest one. he can't believe the increase in gas. he has mentioned it multiple times. it is hard for him to fill up his tank. needs to go to the gas station more frequently. >> reporter: filling up the task of his suv after a family ski trip was eye opening for chris kevorkian who normally drives a preus and fills up only once every two weeks. >> maybe with higher prices, the substitution effect will be greater. >> reporter: but if a hybrid isn't in your future, you can do some things. >> if you obey the speed limit, make sure your tires are properly inflated, you move all the junk from our cars and you consolidate your trips, you will save money as much as 10 to 20 cents a gallon by the way you drive. >> reporter: laura petty as has a different approach.

>> this is like kind of a more expensive pump so i'm not even filling up my tank. i'm going to stop it right now. >> i'm guilty of doing that i few times. >> yeah, recently. >> that was audrey barnes reporting. we still have plenty ahead. more weather, traffic and all your top stories. >> fox 5 morning news continues right now. it is 5:00 right now on this monday, february 18th, 2013. taking a live look right now over at reagan national airport. winds are still a little bit high. not quite as bad as yesterday. you will feetle cold out there this morning. good morning. i'm sarah simmons i'm wisdom martin. welcome to fox 5 morning news. time now to talk to tucker barnes. >> it is cold outside. no doubt about it. temperatures in the teens and low 20s. a cold start to your day.

wind won't be nearly as bad. right now, about five to 10. there is still a wind chill i saw a trash can doing the rolling down the street thing yesterday. that is how strong the winds were. it is 24 at reagan national. 20 at bwi marshall and out at dulles and lots of teens here. the reason why, clear skies and in the wake of that big storm system that cranked up saturday afternoon that brought another round of snow to new england, we actually had some snowflakes around here as well in southern maryland, out in annapolis. couple of flurries here in the city saturday afternoon. that is the warmth really cranking up. that is what brought us the win and the much colder air during the day yesterday. cold air sticks around this morning. later this afternoon, we'll be a little warmer than we were sunday with highs expected to be about 40 or so. with plenty of sunshine and less wind, it should feel a little better for you. sunshine expected, highs, we'll go 41 in washington.

upper 30s and low 40s north and west. 38 in frederick and leonardtown, it will be about 41 as well. so a nice looking day for a holiday. >> yes, thankfully. >> it is hard to believe we'll get there. thank you. time to check in with jeff newman sitting in no julie wright. >> good morning. we'll start on your tridown from gaithersburg on 270. 207 itself moving at speed. -- we'll start on your trip down from gaithersburg on 270. there is a fire near gaithersburg high school and cedar avenue closed between 355 and george street. we'll head over to the legion bridge looking good in both directions. inner loop head nobody montgomery county with no incidents in the way. further down in virginia, heading around robinson terminal, seeing light volume. anticipating lighter volume this morning because of the holiday and then approaching the 14th street bridge on 395,

you are at speed through alexandria and arlington on your way over into the district. that is a look at your fox 5 on- time traffic. me traffic. >> thank you, jeff. our big story, the showdown on capitol hill as lawmakers work to avoid massive spending cuts. >> they now have less than two weeks to strike a deal. otherwise, billions of dollars in automatic cuts will take effect march 1st. melanie alnwick is live on capitol hill with more. >> reporter: congress is on holiday this week, which means when lawmakers do return, they will once again be in emergency mode to try to stop sequestration. republicans appearing on the sunday talk shows pointed out that these across the board cuts are president obama's idea, part of the deal he made in exchange for congress raising the debt ceiling in 2011. the agreement was to find $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years. now, as the deadline approaches once again, lawmaker and the white house trying to find common ground. >> the president promised it

wouldn't happen. he is the commander in chief and on his watch, we're going to begin to unravel the finest military in the history of the world at a time we need it most. >> we look forward to working with our republican friends and colleagues in the house and senate to ensure it doesn't happen. >> reporter: the white house and congressional democrats are proposing a different way to get to that $1.5 trillion over 10 years. they would like to see rather than across the board spending reductions, some targeted budget cuts in different agency as well as an increase in tax revenue. but republicans say that is a nonstarter, that they already did tax hikes for the wealthy back in december, that they are not going to dip into that well one more time. how far, some prominent republicans notably senator john mccain said they would be willing to close perhaps some of those tax loopholes that aren't needed but definitely a lot of work here to do on capitol hill and not a whole lot of confidence that they will really be able to get anything done. back to you. >> thank you.

we hope and we watch. taking a look at our other top stories, tragedy in arkansas where famed country singer mindy mccready has died. she apparently committed suicide. police say the 37-year-old was found shot in the head on the front porch of a home on sunday evening. authorities say her long-time boyfriend committed suicide at the same home just weeks ago. mccready is best known for her hits guys do it all the time and 10,000 angels. her career as sidetrackedded in recent years by drug problems and a custody battle. -- her career was side tracked in recent years. flames ripped through a home on 33rd street around 3:00 sunday morning. a 4-year-old girl remains in critical condition at the hospital. home's owner, 46-year-old jeremy calvary lewis is charged with felony threats and simple assault after investigators a he made threats against one of. women living at the home while crews worked to put the flames out. d.c. police are looking for

witnesses after a deadly hit and run near the noma gallaudet metro. it happened just after 10:30 saturday night in the 100 block of m street northeast. police say a pedestrian somehow fell into the road in the crosswalk and was hit. the victim has been identified as 20-year-old darnell ross of up are marlboro. 21-year-old edmund st. claire was stab stood death during a fight on the somerset county campus of the university after maryland's eastern shore n a statement, university officials say police are telling them they do not believe it was a rapdom crime and it may have out red from an argument or ongoing dispute. all making headlines a new piece of president obama's plan for immigration reform causing some controversy. we'll have details on the plan to grant citizenship to ill el immigrants. >> first, new details about the apparent failing health of pope benedict xvi. we'll be back.  [ female announcer ] pillsbury crescents are awesome.

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pope benedict xvi made another public appearance over the weekend policing a crowd of about 100,000 people in st. peter's square. it was one of his last

appearances as pope. the 85-year-old announced last week that he will be resigning on february 28th. a report in a german magazine over the weekend made claims the pope appears to have gone blind in one eye and is also having trouble hearing and is incredibly thin. closer to home, a leaked immigration proposal is drawing harsh criticism from republicans it would create a special visa for illegal immigrants allowing them to stay in the u.s. while they wait for permanent legal status. the republicans say the president is using the leak to gain a political edge. also, it appears there will be a confirmation vote for chuck hagel as the next defense secretary. gop opponents had stalled the

former senator's bid. some critics challenged his past statements and his criticism. president bush's administration. now, those opponents say they will probably allow his senate confirmation vote to proceed when senators come back to work one week from today. parents, you've all been there. passengers without kids. you have too. >> a toddler on the plane pitching a fit and there is no what where to go. one mother says a man took things with a too far when he allegedly slapped her little boy. we'll hear about this story. >> it is cold outside. temperatures in the teens and low 20s. no doubt about it. feels like february out there. i'll have the details on the forecast. and julie wright has the day off. jeff newman has a look at the traffic coming up after the break.  my mom doesn't drink starbucks coffee

because she thinks it's too dark, and so i brought her some blonde roast. she loves it now. "my son made me this coffee," "you should try it, it's delicious." ♪ "you should try it, it's delicious." this is my friend diane. she's played by the rules her whole life. but then the rules flew right out the window. having just lost her husband, she stepped up and adopted her three grandkids, while working full time and caring for her brother, eddie, with cerebral palsy. i get the three children up. i walk andrew at eight i drop olivia off at eight thirty. spend a few minutes at emilio's school. i stop at the grocery store, and then i might do some laundry that has to be done. and then i have about five minutes. the baby sitter comes in and then i go to work. i'm not back home again until 11:30 at night. hard as she works, it's still a struggle to keep up with the bills and stay warm at night. when we asked the biggest oil companies

to help families in need, only citgo, the people of venezuela, and president hugo chavez responded. thanks to them, citizens energy is able to deliver millions of gallons of fuel to families just like diane's. i'm joe kennedy. if you need help staying warm this winter, call me at 1-877-joe-4-oil. because no one should be left out in the cold! and some people found that a little bit strong. but as soon as they tasted blonde roast, boy they were on board. ♪

it is one of the toughest tickets to fete in town but this year, you can get another chance to be a part of the white house easter royal. the onshrine ticket lottery opens this thursday at 10:00 a.m. it runs through february 25th and results will be released on march 1st. the easter egg roll is set for monday, april 1st. >> always look like fun. >> really nice too. the sun was south. >> hopefully it will be warm by they be. >> every year, that is all over place. some years it is nice.

other years, it will be raining. >> it will be march this year. >> not quite into full spring. no doubt about it. doesn't feel like spring out there this morning. it is definitely wintertime as we are in the teens and 20s. here is the good news. more sunshine than yesterday. slightery warmer temperatures and the best part less wind. we are headed in the right direction. >> le within near 50 tomorrow. >> heck yeah, let's take that. >> there you go. let's do yesterday's temperatures and not your imagination if you thought it was cold because our high temperature only made it to 34 yesterday at reagan national. we had single dim its and teens around here for much of the day. dulles is 31. bwi marshall is 32. if you are headed out early going for a run, dog for a walk that kind of thing, it is cold. 24 in washington. 23 in leonardtown.

just 18 in fredericksburg and in manassas. 19 this morning in frederick. still dealing with a little bit of wind out of the north and west so most of the region, it feels like teens when you mix in the wind chill. should be a nice warm-up as mentioned and eventually with sunshine and temperatures about 40, it will feel better than yesterdat you call a quiet weather pattern. the high pressure going to keep us nice and dry today. lots of sunshine expected. later tonight, we'll get some clouds rolling in and early tomorrow, we'll start to get our next system approaching from the west. and if it gets in here early enough and there are some indications it may not, but if it gets in here early enough, we may be dealing with a bit of the freezing rain issue for parts of the area particularly out to the west early tomorrow morning before a gradual warm- up. we are thinking high temperatures in the upper 40s and low 50s. so most of tomorrow should feature just rain shower activity but early tomorrow, there could be a period of some freezing rain around here. mostly sunny today. winds north and west at five t will feel better than yesterday

with less wind and warmer temperatures. could be a little freezing rain early tomorrow morning. and here is a look at your accu- weather seven-day forecast. enjoy your president's day with lots of sunshine. freezing rain to rain tomorrow. 50 and then we'll cool it down again. could be a wintry mix around here on friday. still some question marks about that. and then more sunshine by the end of the weekend with highs in the mid-40s. that is a look at weather. let's do some traffic and get the latest from jeff newman. >> i wanted to show you top side of the beltway as you head into prince george's county and here we have the camera which is strobing and feels like the blood in my brains right now as it is freezing out there. we'll continue through prince george's county. here is the look passing branch avenue. some good news for our friends traveling on 295. they have opened up the left lane. we'll head into virginia traveling up on dale city. we want to give you appear idea

of what is happening with much lighter than normal traffic as you are traveling up toward the springfield mixing bowl and through the roslyn opportunity old your way into the district at the roosevelt bridge. virtually empty right now. due to the holiday. and that is a look at your fox 5 on-time traffic. traffic. >> all right. more evidence this morning that what your kids watch can impact their behavior. researchers studied children ages three to five years old over six months. in one group, parents were encouraged to gettheir children to watch shows including sesame street or dora the explorer instead of more violent shows like power rangers. by the end of six months, the children who watched educational shows had improved behavior. a 60-year-old man is under arrest and charged with assault for allegedly slapping a toddler and calling theling boy a racial slur. >> it happened on board a flight earlier this month and now the child's mother is talking about what happened. we have a report.

>> reporter: especially under the cramped conditions of a plane flight, anyone who has ever traveled with a toddler knows it can be challenges. but no parent expects other adults to strike out at their child with violence. but that is just what an idaho man is accused of doing. 60-year-old joe rickey huntedly is facing a federal assault charge. he is accused of using a racial slur and then slapping a 2-year- old boy across the face on a delta flight from minneapolis to atlanta on february 8th. huntley, the president of a company for aerospace transportation and military applications in idaho has been us pended from his job. when it was time to final descent, she and the boy

returned to they can their assigned place. as thality constitute changed, jonah started to cry. according to court papers, huntley demanded the child be silence and then useed a racial slush and lashed out. >> his mouth was in my ear and he said it again but even more hateful and he was on my face owe i pushed him away. that is when he slapped jonah. people saw. >> reporter: court papers reveal another passenger on the flight heard derogatory language coming from the rear of the plane and got out of his seat to investigate in time to witness the attack. huntley is charged with simple assault. the fbi is investigating. the 60-year-old joe rickey huntley is out of a job. his company calmed his behavior offensive and disturbing notch word on whether he was fired or

resign giant food touchy subject there. >> very much so -- >> he was fired or resigned. >> touchy subject there. >> very much so. another shocking story that took just about everyone by surprise. friday's meteor explosion in the skies above russia. >> the didn't estimates are starting to come in and they are staggering. we'll tell you what is making recovery efforts even more of a challenge when fox 5 morning news continues. ♪

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welcome back. we're taking a live look right now at the jefferson memorial. you can see the camera moving just slightly. wind aren't quite as bad as they were yesterday as tucker has mentioned. we'll see if we have a warm-up on the way. ments a one-two punch from mother nature for people in the northeast. in massachusetts, a winter storm brought several new inches of snow and winds up to 60 miles per hour there. the storm brought frustration among residents still reeling from the powerful northeast blizzard less than two weeks ago. >> the largest climate rally in american history attracted thousands of people in the district on sunday. they gathered in washington and marched to the white house. >> we've seen climate change in real terms. 2012 was hottest year on record. we are still struging from drought in february in much of the midwestern united states

and claimate change almost wiped out new york city, my hometown. if there has ever been a time when the president can prove to the american people he is ready to lead of course it is now. >> 100 buses brought people from 28 states to the event. representatives from more than 100 organizations including the naacp and green peace also attended. thousands people in russia are still working to clean up after a powerful meteor explosion. the blast blew out windows and damaged several buildings. >> making matters worse, residents are also dealing with freezing temperatures there. adam housley has the update for us. >> reporter: it is being called the city of broken glass. more than 24,000 people working to clean up the damage in this region. friday's meteor explosion blew out windows in more than 4,000 buildings. some 1200 people sustained injuries most caused by flying glass. >> i told the students to move from the windows and not long after that, the meteor exploded. they were all fine. however, when they got back to their seats, a piece of glass

flew above their heads. >> reporter: the explosions believed to have been packed as much power as 20 atomic bombs. the meteor is estimated to weigh the same as a school bus. the damaged windows and broken windows create a dangerous situation with midday temperatures hovering around 10- degree fahrenheit. >> i noticed that one of these maybe seven big sparkled went down this way and i thought an asteroid is flying. there are shadowsen i better pay attention to where they fall and then, of course, go and explore them. >> reporter: the region's government estimate it is damage to be in the neighborhood of $33 billion but does promise all the windows will be replaced within the next week. xt week. >> what i keen-up there. still plenty ahead on fox 5

morning news actually opportunitiery music star way stellar career and i troubled personal life. now, her life has come to a tragic end. >> thousands of jobs in our area are at stake. the sequestration deadline is closing in. we'll show what you lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are saying needs to happen to stop automatic budget cuts before the damage is done. is d

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welcome back to fox 5 morning news. this is a live look outside. it is cold. i do want care what picture we put up on the screen, it is cold outside in washington, d.c. this morning. >> we don't usually get such an up-close look at the lincoln memorial. >> that is a nice shot. >> somebody's flashing light right there off to the side. >> yeah. >> it is gorgeous. >> but it's cold. >> don't be fooled by the nice- looking picture. >> i'm surprised those trees aren't moving. >> still a little windy but not too bad. >> it is breezy at this point. more sunshine, a little bit in the way of warmer temperatures and noticeably less wind than yesterday. that won't be hard to attain considering the winds were blowing about 40 yesterday. let's get to the numbers. the cold. temperatures in the teens and low 20s. you're at 24 right now at reagan national. you can see that we've got some arctic air parked across the mid-atlantic right up into new england this morning. 16 in boston. nine in binghamton. 21 in detroit.

slightly warmer out towards shy and we will get some warmer air in here later tonight and particularly during the day tomorrow when temperatures are going to jump from upper 30s into about 40 today to near 50 by tomorrow afternoon. so we're looking at some warmer temperatures temporarily. let's look at our satellite- radar. nothing to feature out here this morning. nice and quiet. clear skies. should be a sunny, bright, beautiful day with that beautiful, clean canadian air we get this time of year. you take a deep breath and feels refreshing. >> or it burns. it's cold. >> i choose to say it is refreshing. it might burn a little bit. high temperatures about 40 degrees with sunshine. either way, it will be sunny and bright. >> i'm trying to appeal to everyone out there. you and i may be okay with it. >> not everybody is okay with it. >> i was thinking of you, wisdom. feels like sharp knives. >> let's check in with jeff newman in for julie wright. >> good morning.

light volume on 66 as we are traveling in from gainesville through oakton and the gateway incident are change. hov restricts lifted today on 66 as well as on 95 and 395. the approach to the 14th street bridge very light volume, obviously a light lighter than normal for this time day. we'll head over to maryland straffing southbound on it 70, no problems to report from hyattstown. we are seeing increased volume as the headlights here. -- traveling southbound on 270, no problems to report from hyattstown. some folks are working today. more volume than i expected. no problems on the inner loop around towards the wilson bridge. that's a check of your fox 5 on-time traffic. ime traffic. a looming budget deadline on capitol hill is on hold this morning as congress begins a week-long vacation. >> that will leave lawmakers just one week to strike a deal to avoid billions of dollars in

automatic spending cuts due to take effect next month. melanie alnwick is live on capitol hill this morning with more details. >> reporter: good morning. it certainly does feel like we have been through this time and time again. it always seems like congress is suddenly in emergency mode. this time, it is trying to stop sequestration. in the department of education, we are talking about head start for preschoolers could be affected. we are talking about food inspection prz the usda. and the sierra madre r small business administration says maul business loan guarantees would be impacted. every federal agency will have to cut its budget beginning march 1st. it is part of the deal in exchange for raising the debt ceiling in 2011. the agreement was to find at least $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years. as the deadline approaches again, republicans are looking to president obama to offer solutions. >> it was requested by the president. it was his idea, signed